| As a freshman in high school, Samantha constantly heard her older peers speak favorably about the Invest® program.
“I was an unusual student because I took every business course they offered in my school, including independent studies," she recalls. “My favorite turned out to be the Invest class."
Besides learning about the principles of insurance and career opportunities in insurance, Samantha says she “learned about the importance of networking and how to be a young professional. My favorite part of the Invest program was meeting successful insurance professionals and hearing their stories. Now I get to meet and talk to agents across the country every day and I really enjoy hearing their stories."
Today, Samantha is an agent development manager with The Keene Group in Ithaca, New York — a title she earned after several years of working with the agency. She started in 2013 as a part-time office assistant and became a New York State life, accident and health producer in 2015. After two years as a field agent, she returned to the office to pursue her “true passion" as a trainer.
Samantha's daily responsibilities include recruiting and training agents via online webinars and in-person seminars, managing the agency's telephone dialing system, creating and scheduling email campaigns for prospective agents, and creating budget templates and proposals for new agency ventures.
Whether she's working in the field or in the office, Samantha describes it as “a terrific fit" for her insurance career. “I love helping people and building relationships with people, and I really enjoy training other agents to succeed in their role. From my own perspective as a field agent, I get immediate gratification seeing a client smile when I help them with their insurance needs. It's all about developing trust."
The Keene Group has been working with Invest to create and enhance similar programs in several local school districts. “I hope discussing my experience as an Invest graduate and my ongoing relationships with my colleagues can help to spread the word about the Invest program," Samantha says. |